Dean Highland Neighborhood Association

Tag: Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative

  • Quarterly meeting is done, and DON’T FORGET about tomorrow’s (4/25) Conservancy Initiative cleanup

    Well Dean Highlanders,

    Another quarterly meeting at Dean Highland Elementary School is in the books, and it was a real barnburner. We’ll have a recap for you later on, but for now DON’T FORGET about tomorrow’s Conservancy Initiative cleanup.

    Since the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative’s last cleanup was so massive (thanks, again, to Baylor University, Alpha Epsilon Delta Honor Society, and Sara from Parrott Ave), this Saturday’s cleanup is going to be relatively mellow. Meet us on 30th & Live Oak as we march down the alleyway between Live Oak and Windsor avenues. We’ll end our cleanup in the empty lot on 25th-ish Street that faces St Louis Church on the opposite side of the Dean Highland border. Like so:

    The fun will start at 10am. You can just show up on 30th Street. Walk. Bike. Drive. Bring the kids. Bring the dogs. Bring a neighbor! We anticipate this cleanup to be relatively mild compared to some of our earlier ones, so don’t be shy.

    Oh, and once you’re done doing a good deed for Dean Highland, you should head on over to Unify Waco’s COE at Dewey Park. Unify Waco is part of a citywide anti-violence initiative that features top-notch support from Waco PD. This event, which runs from 10am to 2pm, will have exciting prizes & giveaways, free food & drinks (while supplies last), free haircuts by Champions, interactive games & activities, local vendors & booths, public safety connections & engagement, and (and!) a live DJ & music.

  • Baylor’s “Steppin’ Out Day of Service” and the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative: A Recap

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    We had around 60-70 students from Baylor’s Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) Honor Society show up yesterday (Saturday, April 11th) to help clean up our two pocket parks and a bunch of our alleyways. They did this as part of Baylor’s annual Steppin’ Out Day of Service event.

    We are truly grateful for their help and dedication to service. Because this event was so successful, we will definitely be partnering with them more often this year!

    Check out some photos, beginning with Dean Highland Neighborhood Association’s President, Scott Michael, bagging up some garbage and throwing it onto the back of his pickup truck. What service! What heart!

    Here are some more photos of the fun we had:

    Again we were able to hit both of our pocket parks and dozens of alleyways, which is exactly what the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) seeks to accomplish as we work toward a world-class park in our empty Hillcrest parking lot. Thanks again to Sara from Parrott Ave for the heads up on this project, and for getting us connected to the folks at Baylor who were able to make this happen on their end.

    Our next service project for the DHCI will be Saturday, April 25th. We hope to see you there, and if you’ve got an alleyway or empty lot that you’d like to nominate for some tender lovin’ care, click here to submit your nomination!

  • The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative and Baylor’s Steppin’ Out day of action is happening tomorrow!

    The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative and Baylor’s Steppin’ Out day of action is happening tomorrow!

    Hey Dean Highlanders,

    Your humble neighborhood association board has teamed up with Baylor to clean up some alleyways and green spaces as part of Baylor’s awesome Steppin’ Out program.

    It’s happening tomorrow, April 11th, at 8am, and we’re meeting in Highland Baptist Church’s “red lot,” which is where its new Wellness Center is located.

    Baylor is sending 60-80 students our way to help us with our conservancy initiative. Many, many thanks go to Sara on Parrott Ave for putting this whole thing together.

    We’ll catch you at 8am tomorrow morning, and don’t forget to bring your attitude of gratitude, baby!

  • THANK YOU! Saturday’s cleanup (Mar. 28th) was a big hit

    A big shout-out to three “new” Dean Highlanders (including a little one!) for showing up and helping us get our conservancy initiative off the ground. We hit the empty-grass-field-portion of our future Hillcrest Park site hard, and we got some fellowshipping in, too:

    Our next cleanup will be April 11th. If you’ve got an alleyway you’d like to nominate for a guerilla-style cleanup, just click here and fill out the form!

  • This Saturday’s (the 28th) conservancy initiative project: Hillcrest Park

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    We will be cleaning the empty lot at Hillcrest Park this Saturday. That’s right, we’re cleaning the empty lot that will hopefully someday be a world-class park. The fun starts at 10am, and will go until noon or so. Here is the empty lot on a map:

    Just look for the Dean Highland tent. The folks at Keep Waco Beautiful have loaned us the cleaning equipment for this project.

    As a reminder, the inaugural Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) project was a big hit: we hit an alleyway in between Ethel and Homan from 26th to 27th streets. It was a total blast, and I envision Saturday’s cleanup to be just as fun.

    For more on the DHCI in general, check this out.

    If you have any questions about this Saturday’s cleanup, shoot us an email!

  • The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative has officially been launched!

    Hi Dean Highlanders,

    On Saturday, March 14th, several members of the Dean Highland Neighborhood Association board (and some of their family members) gathered on 27th Street in between Ethel and Homan (here again are some “before” photos) to officially launch the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) with a guerilla-style alleyway cleaning:

    Now check out the alleyways from 26th to 27th and from 27th to 28th:

    Not too shabby, eh? Just imagine if everybody from the Dean Highland Neighborhood Association showed up to the next conservancy initiative event (happening Saturday, March 28th). This benefits you and your families the most. My children, for example, now have their “volunteer organizations and work” box checked off on their college applications.

    If you have an alleyway you’d like to nominate for a cleaning, please fill out the form below:

    ← Back

    Thank you for your response. ✨

    Now, fellow Dean Highlanders, our alleyways were specifically targeted in our conservancy initiative because alleys in Waco act as the arteries of our neighborhood: if they’re not clean and taken care of, everything gets clogged up.

    The DHCI is not just about doing good things for our neighbors; it’s about gaining organizational capacity for the negotiations that will inevitably arise when the time comes to fill in the empty Hillcrest lot.

    A big thanks to Scott Michael, the neighborhood association board’s current president, and Austin Wright, the neighborhood association board’s current secretary, for showing up with their own equipment and donating their time, energy, and yard tools to Dean Highland. If you have any questions or comments about the conservancy initiative, shoot us an email.

  • We’re on 27th, between Homan & Ethel

    Join us for fun, fellowship, and service!

  • Don’t Forget: The Conservancy Initiative’s launch is **this Saturday**

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    Please don’t forget about the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative’s launch, happening this Saturday, March 14th, starting at 10am and going until roughly noon.

    We are going to hit our alleyways hard with this conservancy, starting with one in the south of the neighborhood in between Ethel and Homan:

    You can just park on the side of the streets from 26th through 29th. This is Dean Highland on a Saturday morning. Bring gloves and a mask if you’ve got ’em.

    Here’s what we’re up against, but it’s also important to remember that this is what some of our fellow Dean Highlanders have been up against for years without an organizational advocate:

    Catch you on Saturday morning, and I hope you had a good spring break. If you have any questions about Saturday, feel free to shoot us an email: deanhighlandwaco@gmail.com.

  • Introducing the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative: A Call to Action

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    Happy Monday. We’re making real progress on Hillcrest Park but from here on out it only gets more difficult.

    The empty lot is in a beautiful spot.

    There’s no way we’re the only organization dreaming up plans of what to do with it. Our rivals are going to be better funded, better organized, and well-drilled. They won’t necessarily see “service, advocacy, and fellowship” as ideals to be followed or respected.

    These rivals might try to give us some crumbs of green space and expect us, as unorganized private citizens, to be grateful for the meal.

    Your humble Dean Highland Neighborhood Association board wants you to know it is thinking and worrying about these things so that you don’t have to. Today, the board is announcing the official unveiling of the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative.

    This Initiative, if done with grit and determination and a servant-leader mindset, can not only stand up to outside interests but also get us — and future generations of Wacoans – a world-class city park on the entire 14-acre lot.

    It starts with service. Not just any service. But service built off the bi-monthly cleanings that we have been doing at Mitchell Park. Service throughout all the different parts — rich, poor, light, dark – of Dean Highland. We are going to shape ourselves into an effective, organized, inclusive, and formidable neighborhood association by pursuing a policy of kindness and neighborly love.

    The launch of our the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative is this Saturday, March 14th, beginning at 10am. We are going to hit our alleyways hard, starting with one in the south of the neighborhood in between Ethel and Homan:

    You can just park on the side of the streets from 26th through 29th. This is Dean Highland on a Saturday morning. Bring gloves and a mask if you’ve got ’em.

    Here’s what we’re up against, but it’s also important to remember that this is what some of our fellow Dean Highlanders have been up against for years without an organizational advocate:

    This is how we cut our organizational chops, Dean Highland Neighborhood Association. Yee-haw. Catch you on Saturday morning, and bring a neighbor!

    Please shoot questions, or RSVP, to us via email: deanhighlandwaco@gmail.com.

  • Fundraiser Friday

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    Wow, what a week. What a couple of weeks!

    We’ve been serving others through our bi-monthly Mitchell Park cleanup. We’ve been advocating like crazy for our vision of Hillcrest Park. On the fellowshipping front, our oral history project (in partnership with Baylor’s Institute for Oral History) has supplemented the best neighborhood holiday party that’s thrown in Waco.

    There’s no doubt about it: the Dean Highland Neighborhood Association has kicked its tempo up a notch. I hope y’all like it.

    In order to keep this tempo up, we need your financial support as well as your physical and spiritual support. We won’t be paying ourselves a salary with your donations. We’ll be using it to assert a bit more independence from the City of Waco’s amazing grants program. We’ll be using it to further enhance our ongoing projects. We’ll be using it to launch the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative. That’s it.

    Can you donate to the cause this Friday? If so, here’s our Venmo account. Just click on it to get started. There should be a spot for you to tell us why you’re donating this Friday. Are you giving because you support our ongoing history projects? Or perhaps you want to donate to the war chest we will need to fight for every acre of Hillcrest Park? Are you giving to the flyers and equipment that we utilize to lovingly and humbly serve our neighbors?

    Please, we need all the financial support we can get. (If you have any questions about taxes and donations to the neighborhood association, please shoot us an email at deanhighlandwaco@gmail.com.)

    Thanks, and enjoy your weekends…